| School Funding Issue | |
If you live in Ohio, you would have to live in a cave not to have heard about the school funding issue. Hardly a day passes where I don't hear about it or read about it somewhere.
All the attention schools are receiving is understandable. To quote a press release from The Ohio Coalition for Equity and Adequacy of School Funding:- Highways, prisons, state office towers, and even private and public arenas and stadiums are important and even essential. But more important and more essential are our public schools. The future of our social order, the future of democracy for our nation is inseparably linked to our public schools.
The importance of schools in Ohio can be demonstrated by the following information from the book Ohio Lands:
- The United States government granted 704,204 acres for public school purposes in Ohio. The Ohio legislature passed its first act concerning school lands on April 5, 1803. The act provided for the leasing and administration of these lands.
But are schools still important in the eyes of our legislature? Let's consider a few facts:
- 1. A recent WCMH-TV news report ranked Ohio DEAD LAST among the 50 states in quality of public schools.
2. In the 1970's, the Ohio Lottery was touted as the answer to Ohio's school funding problems. The lottery? What sane person would tie something as important as education to gambling receipts?
3. In its DeRolph decision, the Ohio Supreme Court said "Ohio does not provide many of its students with even the most basic educational needs."
The result has been that public schools in Ohio are largely a locally-funded institution dependent upon the local economy and the ability (and willingness) of local voters to provide tax money. Consider the following excerpt from the Time Magazine article "The New Math":
- To see how brightly fortune smiles on Indian Hill High School, visit the 'suite' where three counselors help steer almost all of the 150 seniors to college, or watch a practicing pathologist teach college-level biology, or witness students pull their homework off the mainframe serving the building's 300 computers.
But more than 100 miles and 100 years back down the road...at Vinton County High School, textbooks are 25 years old and in such short supply that students routinely share them. College guidance is dispensed from a renovated bathroom. And since the school lacks a cafeteria, students troop out at noon to eat at bars, a pizza joint or a gas station, which often means a candy bar or a Coke.
That Ohio has two public school systems--one for the poor and one for everybody else--is no longer the state's dirty secret. Its supreme court in March [1997] was so outraged at this feudal arrangement that it ordered an immediate reform in the way Ohioans pay for education.
I can personally vouch for this "feudal arrangement"--I attended both a poor rural school district and a fairly affluent suburban school district in Northwest Ohio during my public school career. The difference was like night and day: I went from a school bus that broke down everyday, pieces of plaster falling on me, and 25-year-old textbooks to central air conditioning and buildings in immaculate condition. It was a nothing short of a disgrace. Our state government can spend over $100 million building a new office building for ODOT while Vinton County students don't have a place for a hot meal. Of course, as the Time article states, Vinton County is conveniently tucked away and forgotten "100 miles back down the road."
So let's look at some more excerpts from the Supreme Court's DeRolph decision:
- 1. Current legislation fails to provide for a thorough and efficient system of common schools.
2. It is painfully obvious that the General Assembly...has failed in its constitutional obligation to ensure a thorough and efficient system of common schools.
3. By our decision today, we send a clear message to lawmakers...the time has come to fix the system. Let there be no misunderstanding...Ohio's public school financing must undergo a complete systematic overhaul.
4. Because of its importance, education should be placed high in the state's budgetary priorities...[E]ducation under the legislation being reviewed ranks miserably low in the state's priorities...Consequently, the present school financing system contravenes the clear wording of our Constitution and the framers' intent.
How have our state's leaders responded to the supreme court's decision? Beyond our illustrious governor's temper tantrum (live on TV) that he is the "education governor", we haven't heard much from him. Our legislature has decided that putting a one percent sales tax increase on the ballot is the solution.
But is it? Next week I will give the explanation of State Issue 1 and 2 as given to me by the Ohio Ballot Board, look at arguments from supporters and opponents, and finally tell you how I will vote on May 5.
For more background on the school funding issue, visit:
School Funding Revisited
Supreme Court Decision Rocks Education Community
